Saturday Morning Pick Up Softball Group Soaked By Roosevelt Island Firefighter's Field Water Sprinklers - Problem Solved With Night Sprinklers

Image From Roosevelt Island Softball Meetup Group at Firefighter's Field

I received the following message last Monday from Jason, a Roosevelt Island resident and organizer of the Saturday morning Roosevelt Island Softball pick up game at Firefighter's Field:

We were playing softball on Saturday, as usual. At 9:00 AM, one East-West row sprinklers were running, on the far side of the field from the diamond. Usually, we can share the Firefighters Field with soccer players but they were pushed too close to us in the earlier morning by the sprinklers so we got to a late start. Every so often (15-20 minutes?), the sprinklers switched to a closer row. By 10:15, shallow right field was being sprayed. By 10:45, mid-game, the infield was under assault.

I saw a pair of RIOC red-shirts changing trash bags and I approached them. They told me that the sprinklers are now on a timer and will be on at the same time every week. They agreed that it is ridiculous to water the field at a time of day when the field is most likely to be used. They told me that they could do nothing because the sprinklers are controlled by "Maintenance" and that this department doesn't work on weekends so there was nobody to call for an immediate resolution.

... I hope that the quick and easy-to-implement solution is for RIOC to change the timer. I'm no expert but what's wrong with the middle of the night?

(Note: The times are not precise).

I passed Jason's request to change the Firefighter's Field automatic sprinkler time to Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. (RIOC) Vice President of Operations Fernando Martinez. Mr. Martinez indicated that he would look into the matter with RIOC's Maintenance Department and reported back:

Firefighter's Field has 14 zones. Each zone is on for about 15 to 30 minutes. Basically, it will take 3.5 to 7 hours to water the entire field. We have adjusted the timer to start at mid-night in order to complete the watering of the field by no later than 7am.

I checked back with the Softball group this past Saturday and learned that the sprinklers did not go off during their morning game.

Good job by RIOC, Mr. Martinez and RIOC's maintenance staff in responding quickly to a resident's problem and resolving it to everyone's satisfaction.

More information on the Roosevelt Island Saturday morning pick up game available at their Meetup Group site. Players of all skill levels are welcome.